07-14-2012 01:03 PM - edited 07-03-2021 10:24 PM
Where I live there is no DLS or cable to probide me with Interent access so I use my Verizon 3G/4G smart phone (Android) as a hotspot. Right now I am using an old Vista PC and ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) to provide Interent connectivity to my home network and Cisco lab. This works fine but I must have my smart phone near the PC for it to work. When I go to other rooms, I end up missing calls and texts since I have t oleave the phone if it is providing Inerent access at that time. If I can get the Airnet's to connect to the hot spot AND provide Internet access, that will provide me additional mobility. This would also be good for small businesses as a backup Internet Connection.
Is there any way that I could elimanate the Vista PC and have my Aironet 1231G Wireless router(s) automatically connect to my phone's 3G hotspot to provide Internet access to my lan?
I have 2 Airnoet 1231G's running the c1200-k9w7-mx.123-7.ja IOS and a C3550XL layer 3 switch.
Any suggestions would be appericiated.
Thank You,
Michael
Smart phone --> Aironet ---> C3550XL ---> entire lan.
I currently have two VLan/SSID's set up, Guest & Private. The IP of my smart phone is 192.168.42.1
07-14-2012 10:24 PM
Hi Mike,
I understood that you use your Android phone as a hotspot and you use a PC (runnign vista) to connect through it is wireless to that hotspot. You also use Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) in order to provide the WIRED infrastructure with connectivity. i.e. The PC bridges connectivity between wireless and wired sides.
If my understanding above is correct then you can use a feature called Universal Work Group Bridge (Universal WGB). In this case you can use your AP to connect to the WLAN and provide connectivity through it is wired side.
The drawback here is the AP can connect to one client only, not more. i.e: connecting it to a switch does not work.
So What I can suggest that you do is to connect your AP to your hotspot, connect the wired AP to the vista PC and then use the vista PC as a WiFi hotspot.
WGB feature, if you don't know about it, is actually available with Cisco autonomous APs. If you use two APs of Cisco you can connect the WGB to a switch to provide multiple clients with wired connectivity. If you connect the WGB to a non-Cisco WLAN (like in you case) then it is a Universal WGB but the limitation, as mentioned before, is that you can only connect one client to the wired side rather than connecting the AP to a switch and connecting wired clients to the switch.
The following docs may help describing Universal WGB:
https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-4863
HTH
Amjad
07-15-2012 05:07 PM
Thanks you for the information. However, that does not allow me to meet my needs. I need to elimanate the ICS computer and have the 3G hot spot conn\ect to the 1231G for EVERYONE to share. I was able to do this with a cheap Belkin touter as long as all clients were on the same sbunet. No matter what I trued, hosts on a differnt VLan could not get Internet access, just those on the same VLan as the Belkin.
Any other suggestions?
07-15-2012 05:22 PM
Well if you want to have seperate vlans, you need a router to allow users from subnet to the subnet the 3G is on.
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07-15-2012 05:42 PM
I have several 2501, 2503 and a C3550XL layer 3 switch and tried everything I could think of to get the packets to route, They would just get lost in the ether and I don't know why.
07-15-2012 06:17 PM
You might be better off getting an Ethernet converter like from linksys or buffalo. Have that associate to your 3G and have the Ethernet bridge connect to a switchport that is on its own vlan. Then make that vlan layer 3 interface dhcp so the L3 interface gets an ip from the 3G. Then you should be able to route everything. You can use the 1231 as a regular ap and all that traffic can route out to the 3G. Of course you would setup that vlan the Ethernet bridge connects to as an outside interface an NAT that interface. All your other vlans can be setup an an ip NAT inside interface.
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